Despite his untimely death at the young age of 35, Robert Smithson’s short career has served as a major source of inspiration for countless young artists, particularly among the emerging talents of the 1960s. Not only was he a prodigious artist, but also a formidable writer and critic, his interests spanning from Catholicism to mineralogy to science fiction.
While his early pieces consisted of paintings and collages, Smithson’s focus soon shifted towards sculpture as he responded to the Minimalism and Conceptualism movements of the early 1960s. This led him to extend his work beyond the confines of galleries and into the vast landscape. In 1970, he created his famous Earthwork, also known as Land art, in the form of a spiral jetty made of rocks and situated in the colorful waters of the shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
However, tragedy struck in 1973 when Smithson died in an aircraft accident while surveying the site for another Earthwork project in Texas. Despite his short life, he has left an indelible mark on the art world, particularly with his groundbreaking Earthwork creations.
Between 1959 and 1962, Arman developed his signature style through two new concepts: accumulation and poubelle. The accumulation involved collecting ordinary, identical objects and encasing them in large quantities in polyester or plexiglass. The poubelle, or trash can, consisted of scattered consumer materials that Arman used to fill galleries alongside fellow artists such as Yves Klein.
In October 1960, Arman played a significant role in the formation of the Nouveau Réalisme art movement, along with Yves Klein, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and later César, Niki de Saint Phalle, Christo and others.
A year later, Arman made his debut in the United States, his second home. He split his time between living in New York and Nice, eventually settling in Vence in 1967.
www.ftn-books.com has some important Smithson publications available.
